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As the EV craze heats up, Florida makes perfect sense for a new brand to emerge. Two companies have come together to create electric vehicles for the market, and Florida Man isn’t involved. You might have heard of Naked brands, which was responsible for the Frederick’s of Hollywood brand. What does a lingerie company know about electric cars? Not much, but Cenntro will take care of that.

Naked Brand Group and Cenntro Automotive Group will be teaming up to make electric cars

A Lingerie Company Is Going to Be Making Electric Cars in Florida
The lingerie company responsible for Frederick’s of Hollywood will be teaming up with another company to make electric cars | Kirk McKoy/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

The news was announced this week in a press release by Naked Brand Group. Naked specializes in intimate apparel and swimwear and exists solely online. “We are committed to revolutionizing the lingerie industry through technological innovation that delivers best of breed innovative technologies,” the group says. Cenntro Automotive Group happens to be “an early pioneer in Artificial Intelligent (AI) Autonomous Driving and a leading designer and manufacturer of electric light and medium-duty commercial vehicles (“ECV”).”

Cenntro has already found success with commercial electric vehicles and electric cars. The company claims that customers have traveled more than 20 million miles already in over 26 countries. You have probably encountered an EV by Cenntro and didn’t even know it. The Cenntro Metro is a multi-purpose vehicle of a smaller size, suitable for urban areas. It also offers the Logistar 400, Neibor 200, and the ORV, among others.

The anticipated sales numbers for Cenntro and Naked are impressive. For 2021, Cenntro expects revenue of $25.3 million with 1,500 vehicles sold. That number goes up to $506 million with 21,500 electric cars in 2022. Finally, the 2023 numbers are $2.1 billion and over 74,800 vehicle sales.

$1.4 billion is a lucritive sale for the future of electric cars

It is clear that Cenntro has a handle on the electric car thing already, so how does the bathing suit designer come into play? It seems that Naked Brand Group was already on the stock market with a Nasdaq listing and ticker symbol of “NAKD.” The press release explains that Naked will acquire privately-held Cenntro and the outstanding stock.

Since its founding in 2013, Cenntro has produced over 3,300 commercial electric cars. It offers a scalable, decentralized production model that will allow significant growth in the next five years. Cenntro and Naked will begin scaling production in January 2022 after the companies complete the deal. Two facilities in Jacksonville, Florida, and Dusseldorf, Germany, will be responsible for production at first.

At this time, the electric car maker has over 238 patents for various vehicles and components.

Be on the lookout for these new Florida-made EVs next year

Further into the press release, it explains more information about the deal. The sale of Cenntro for $1.4 billion is quite a lucrative deal, but it sounds promising for both brands.

“Under the agreement, Naked will issue shareholders of CAG a number of shares so that, upon the completion of the Transaction, which is expected to occur prior to year-end, Cenntro shareholders will own approximately 70% of the combined entity on a fully-diluted basis.”

Cenntro

Peter Wang, Cenntro’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said the company looked at various ways to go public. The deal with Naked expedited the process. It also allowed the company access to the “‘Naked Army’ and its other shareholders.” For now, it seems this electric car revolution might work out for both companies. If Cenntro can scale up the production of commercial electric vehicles, there is certainly a market for it.

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